Forcibly composing himself, Torio Read out toward the Reader/Adept pair only a mile away, well within his range, and met fury. //They destroy our powers! By the gods, Portia will pay for this! Old crone-//
//Hush-Bevius, we don't have time for anger!// Torio said. //Overthrow Portia later-you certainly have enough witnesses. But right now, think of all the Readers in Tiberium. Are you going to let them die?//
It took several more minutes for Torio to calm Bevius down; then they waited for Lenardo to re-establish rapport. Finally it came, but there were gaps in the chain where some Readers were still too angry to concentrate. Rolf, intending only to help, broadcast, //No Reader or Adept used more than half his powers until now. I am an Adept-but I have learned to Read. You will discover Adept powers-//
Melissa joined in, //Rolf is right. You have done as much to blunt your powers as Portia, by never questioning what was told you. True-anyone who questioned was exiled. But look at Lenardo. Help us now-and we will help you unlock all your powers!//
There was a sudden pause, then //Show us,// from a hundred minds at once. Melissa looked around, picked up a small stone, and set it on the ground before her. She concentrated-blank to Reading, but Alethia watched her for the assembly. The stone tilted, toppled, rolled as if down hill-on perfectly flat ground! She resumed Reading, breathing hard, and broadcast into the astonished mental silence, her intensity growing as her powers returned, //You can all learn it. Help us this once-you will change the world!//
//We can have such powers?//
//You do have them,// Lenardo told them, //but we are still trying to discover how to teach Readers to use them. Try to calm the people who are still upset. We must ease that fault now!//
By the time complete rapport was established, the ceremony in the forum had begun. The Emperor mounted the platform in his golden robes-people cheered as more sun-adorned banners unfurled. The honor guard turned and took their places before the platform. Instead of the heads of the parties in the Senate, who were still deep in debate, Portia and Marina flanked the Emperor. Very clever of Portia, Torio realized: she had used the very debate which sought to reduce her influence to make it appear to the citizens of the empire that she and the other Master Readers were the Emperor's most trusted counselors.
When he felt his thought picked up by other Readers, Torio repressed his feelings lest he spark off their harsh anger again. Lenardo was concentrating on the fault beneath Tiberium, carefully Reading the configuration, the depth, the way the edges leaned and the direction they would slip. The natural inclination would lead to a collapse directly under the city-almost directly under the forum-and kill thousands of people. They must prevent that.
//Everyone concentrate,// Lenardo told them. //Readers, get your Adept partners chanting in unison-when I give the signal, cue your partner on your number.//
It had all been worked out from Master Clement's map-each pair must draw the stresses away from Tiberium on cue, so that the whole fault would settle gently into stability, instead of toppling the capital city into a chasm. Aradia had the job of directing the rock surfaces beneath the city itself, letting the plates of stone settle horizontally across the incipient chasm to form a secure foundation Unlikely to budge for many generations. Now she Read with Lenardo, and nodded. //Go ahead.//
Everyone concentrated. Aradia dropped out of the rapport. Torio grasped Wulfston's hands, taking up the chant Adepts used to form their circles of power. Their effort would come later, but they were in rapport with the others already as the potential forces beneath the city… moved. All the tremendous power Aradia commanded could do no more than shift one portion of one rock surface, but they had carefully researched that one spot to bring the whole thing tumbling from its precarious equilibrium.
Such forces were ponderously slow, far slower than their rhythmic chanting. The Readers Read the movement beneath the earth long before anything could be felt on the surface. Underground cliffs realigned-a low rumble growled through the city, but in the forum it was drowned in drumbeats and cheers as the Emperor stepped to the front of the reviewing platform.
Aradia Read for a moment with Lenardo, studying what she had started, gauging the pressure to make the surfaces fall into the desired horizontal position. Then she was unReadable again, the shift continuing as the Adepts all around the city exerted their strength to draw energy away from that center.
There was a shift and lurch in the floor of the forum. A minor tremor shook the army's banners, and cries of fear went up here and there. It lasted only moments, though, and was quickly dismissed as another of those annoying-
//GET OUT OF THE FORUM!//
Where it came from, Torio could not have said-it was the mental voice of one of the Readers in the rapport, using Lenardo's power to broadcast outward, breaking their secrecy to reach other Readers in danger.
Then others took it up. //RUN! THE CITY WILL FALL! ALL READERS-RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!//
At this strategic moment, Lenardo dared not break the rapport-//Stop that!// he told them. //The city will not fall if you work with your partners-//
But many of the failed Readers were not working with their Adept partners now. Alethia broadcast, //ROD-RIGO-RUN! GET AWAY FROM THE FORUM!// Soon all the Readers with friends or relatives in Tiberium were trying to warn them.
There was no stopping the forces Aradia had set in motion. "Draw the-stresses-this way-Wulfston!" Torio said in the rhythm of their chanting, but it was too soon-the slow-moving wave of underground motion was still miles away. Then, realizing the Adept would waste precious strength that might be needed later, he broke the rhythm. "Stop! You can't do anything yet. The gods help us-it's all gone wrong!"
"What-?"
"The Readers-they're warning their friends! They've abandoned their Adept partners-no one knows what to do. If we were only there-"
"Aradia? Lenardo?"
"Still on the Senate steps-Aradia can't hold those forces by herself. The quake is getting worse-it's going to happen, Wulfston!"
Julia was shouting, "Stop! Don't go in there!" as both Readers and minor Adepts abandoned their posts around the city to surge through the gates.
//Stay back!// Lenardo broadcast as Aradia Read with him once more, her first weariness evident. But as soon as she had reconnoitered, she went back to applying her strength to the fault.
"By the gods-she's doing it, Wulfston!" Torio cried. "Aradia is guiding the stresses-" He fell back into the chant of nonsense syllables, in preparation for their effort.
But failed Readers were converging on the forum, adding their own vision to the rapport-and hatred flowed outward as they saw the reviewing stand, the Emperor, Portia, the assembled army…
The resulting emotion was hopeless to repress. Lenardo could not stop it from being broadcast by the hundreds of failed Readers in Tiberium, nor could he break the rapport. It had taken on a life of its own! Readers in the upper ranks gasped as the anger of the failed Readers poured over them. On the reviewing platform, the Emperor was launching into his opening remarks, about leading the army himself this time-a perfect excuse to get out of Tiberium. Behind him, Portia stiffened as hatred filled the air. Marina cringed. Everyone else on the platform was a nonReader, as were the soldiers drawn up all around them.
//Bring down Tiberium!//
//Destroy them all!//
While Aradia struggled with the forces beneath the earth, the Readers in the rapport joined minds in one all-powerful desire: to destroy the people who had betrayed them!
Torio felt Melissa drawn into the raging hatred, her small power directed at the reviewing stand-it shook! The rapport rippled as angry Readers guided their Adept partners, using them for revenge-hate-it shifted and twisted, the ugliest sensation Torio had ever known, trying to drag him into it.
//No!// he cried, not knowing he had shouted aloud until Wulfston grasped his shoulders and shook him.
"Torio! Come out of it! Stop Reading!"
But he couldn't. The Readers continued the chant, swaying in rhythm, guiding their mind-blind Adept partners to do their bidding.
"South now-stronger-
"Push it-harder-
"Once more-harder-"
The rhythm of a gigantic heartbeat shook the land as the nonsense syllables turned to words, directions-
"Northward-lower-
"That's it! – harder-"
//No! No!// Torio broadcast, meeting Master Clement's dismay at Readers using Adepts as tools of vengeance.
Even the old Master could not shut himself out of the raging rapport. With Torio, he observed in horror the assault on the Senate, the wooden platform full of dignitaries-it was Lenardo's vision all over again as he was tossed away from Aradia, a tremor heaving the steps into vertical slabs. Inside the building the roof caved in. Men screamed and tried to run. Solid stone fell on them. Across the forum the reviewing stand collapsed, banners bearing the golden sun toppling with slow grace onto the writhing, injured people.
Portia was in the rapport, her mind screaming, //I will not allow this!// at the same time that impossible pain lanced through her fragile body and Torio Read that her back was broken. //No! You cannot do this to me!// she raged, and left her shattered body behind, her presence in them all, mad, hideous, wanting to hurt them-
//Lenardo!// she challenged, grappling with his mind as Master Amicus had done with Master Corus'. //You will pay for this! You are mine, Lenardo-mine!//
Torio realized sickly that Portia sought to take Lenardo over, to possess his mind and control his powers!
Distracted by trying to find Aradia, flung to his knees as he tried to stand on the heaving steps, Lenardo had only half his attention on Portia's raging presence. He screamed and clapped his hands to his head as she created pain to weaken his defenses.